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The Mohajirs (Urdu-speakers) of Pakistan are largely settled in the Sindh province. In the province’s capital, Karachi (that is also Pakistan’s largest city), the Mohajirs have for long been a majority.

Unlike the country’s other major ethnic groups, Mohajirs are not ‘people of the soil’. Their roots lie in areas that are outside of what today is Pakistan.

A majority of them began arriving from cities and towns (especially from North Indian regions) after the division of India into two separate states in 1947.

They mostly settled in Karachi and soon became a part of the otherwise Punjabi-dominated ruling elite of the new-born country due to the high rates of education found in the Mohajir community, its urbane tenor and the required expertise it possessed in running Pakistan’s nascent bureaucracy and economy.

Socially, the Mohajirs were urbane and liberal. But politically they sided with the country’s two major religious parties: the (then middle-class-oriented) Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), and the more petty-bourgeois and populist Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP).

The dichotomy between the Mohajirs’ social and political dispositions was a result of the sense of insecurity that the community felt in a country where the majority of its inhabitants were ‘natives.’

Lacking a political constituency tied to the historical and cultural aspects of ethnicities of the ‘people of the soil’, the Mohajirs naturally backed the state’s project of constructing a homogenous national identity that repulsed ethnic sentiment.

The Mohajirs also echoed the views of the religious parties that eschewed pluralism and ethnic identities and propagated a holistic national unity based on the commonality of the faith followed by the majority of Pakistanis.

As time would eventually render such projects and demands obsolete and artificial in a multi-ethnic country like Pakistan, by the arrival of Pakistan’s first military regime (Ayub Khan, 1958), the Mohajirs had already begun to lose their influence in the ruling elite.

With the Baloch, Bengali and Sindhi nationalists distancing themselves from the state’s narratives of nationhood, Ayub (who hailed from what is now the Khyber Pakhtunkha province, slowly began to pull the Pakhtuns into the mainstream areas of the economy and politics.

This is one reason why the Mohajirs’ began to agitate against the Ayub dictatorship from the early 1960s onwards.

Mohajirs had decisively lost their place in the ruling elite, but they were still an economic force to reckon with (especially in urban Sindh).

When a Sindhi, Z.A. Bhutto, became the country’s head of state (and then government) in December 1971, the Mohajirs feared that they would be further side-lined, this time by the economic and political resurgence of Sindhis under Bhutto.

In response the Mohajirs enthusiastically participated in the 1977 right-wing movement against the Bhutto regime (that was largely led by the religious parties).

The movement was particularly strong among Karachi’s middle and lower-middle-classes (and aggressively backed by industrialists, traders and the shopkeepers).

This was also the first time when the Mohajirs compromised their social liberalism to supplement their backing for a movement based on populist religious dispositions.

But the success of the PNA (Pakistan National Alliance) movement did not see the Mohajirs finding their way back into the ruling elite, even though the Jamaat-i-Islami became an important player in the first cabinet of Gen Zia regime that came to power through a military coup in July 1977.

Disillusioned, some young Mohajir politicians came to the conclusion that their community had been exploited by religious parties, and that these parties had used the shoulders of the Mohajirs to climb into the corridors of power. This galvanised the formation of the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (in 1978) and then the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984.

Its founders, Altaf Hussain and Azim Ahmed Tariq, decided to organise the Mohajir community into a cohesive ethnic whole.

For this, they found the need to break away from the community’s tradition of being politically allied to the religious parties, and politicise the Mohajirs’ more liberal social dynamics and character.

The Mohajir dichotomy between social liberalism and political conservatism was dissolved and replaced with a new identity-narrative concentrating on the formation of Mohajir ethnic nationalism that was socially and politically liberal but fiscally conservative and provincial in outlook.

The project was a success; first expressed in the manner the MQM broke the electoral hold of the religious parties in Karachi and the subsequent invention of the Mohajirs of Sindh as a distinct ethnic group.

By 1992, the MQM had become Sindh’s second largest political party (second to the PPP).

But as the city’s economics and resources continued to come under stress due to the increasing migration to the city from within Sindh, KP and the Punjab, corruption in the police and other government institutions operating in Karachi grew two-fold.

The need to use muscle to tilt the political and economic facets of the city towards a community’s interests became prominent.

Thus emerged the so-called militant wings in the city’s prominent political groups.

These cleavages saw the MQM ghettoising large swaths of the city’s Mohajirs in areas where it ruled supreme.

The results were disastrous. It replaced the pluralistic and enterprising disposition of the Mohajirs with a besieged mentality that expressed itself in an awkwardly violent manner attracting the concern and then the wrath of the state and two governments (in the 1990s).

In 2002 MQM began to regenerate itself after the crises of the preceding decade when it decided to end hostilities with the state by allying itself with the Gen Musharraf dictatorship (1999-2008).

The party had already weaned away the Mohajir community from the concept of Pakistani nationhood propagated by the religious parties. Now it added two more dimensions to Mohajir nationalism.

It began to explain the Mohajirs as ‘Urdu-speaking Sindhis’ who were connected to the Sindhi-speakers of the province in a spiritual bond emerging from the teachings of Sindh’s ‘patron saint’, Shah Abdul Latif.

This was MQM’s way of resolving the Mohajirs’ early failures to fully integrate Sindhi culture.

The other dimension that emerged during this period among the Mohajir community (through the MQM), was to address the disposition of Mohajir identity in the (urban) Mohajir-majority areas of Sindh.

This dimension explains Mohajir nationalism in the context of Pakistan’s status of being a Muslim-majority state.

It expresses Mohajir nationalism through a version of socio-political liberalism based on the modern reworking of 19th century ‘rational and progressive Islam’ (of the likes of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan). It sees spiritual growth as a consequence of material growth (derived from modern free enterprise, science, the arts and the consensual de-politicisation of faith).

On DawnNews

Comments (182) Closed

Pakistani

Apr 20, 2014 10:21am

I have never understood how people from vastly different areas of India were able to amalgamate into one distinct Mohajir entity but were never able to integrate with the other five ethnicities present in Pakistan. What I mean to say is that, instead of creating further divisions by uniting into a fictional Mohajir identity (since Mohajirs have multiple ethnic backgrounds), wouldn't it have been better for all of the migrants from pre-partition India to try and absorb themselves into a Pakistani identity.

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Ejaz

Apr 20, 2014 10:22am

An excellent discription of the evolution of MQM. I would appreciate if the author write about the Punjabi mohajirs who migrated from East Punjab during the partition and are setteled in punjab.

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Jameel

Apr 20, 2014 10:27am

It is ironic how a movement to protect the rights of Muhajir people (MQM) now sees no shame in infringing on the rights of people of other ethnicities in Karachi.

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Punjabi Mohajir

Apr 20, 2014 10:58am

@Ejaz:
The Punjabi mohajirs assimilated into the local culture completely and have achieved significant levels of success. In fact, it is curious to observe that the oft-ridiculed PML-N has so many non-Punjabi members. Apart from the Sharif brothers' Kashmiri heritage, the strongly vocal Saad Rafique also comes from a Mohajir family.

The 'siege mentality' that NFP mentions above has actually convinced the Mohajirs in Sindh that everyone else in Pakistan is trying to attack their interests.

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Tehsin

Apr 20, 2014 11:03am

Very true description. I would like to add the part where Muhajir turned into Muttahida, also how Altaf Hussain factor has effected MQM.

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Tehmina Hilaly

Apr 20, 2014 11:11am

NFP has tried to let his readers understand the MQM's "raison d'etre" in relation to the rest of Pakistan's cultural and ethnic groups. However, my great- grandfather was from UP, India and married my great-mother whose Turkish ancestors settled in Lahore since the Mughal era. So many families such as mine, don't in any way relate to the recent "muhajir" immigration from India. We have all become sons and daughters of the soil, and are proud of being so.

In fact, a great deal of families who arrived in Pakistan from India during Independence intermarried into Pashtuns, Punjabis, Sindhis, etc, and don't want to have anything to do with MQM.

Most family members identify with PTI, rather than the traditional " same old, same old " type political parties which haven't progressed towards improving Pakistan's socio-economic state.

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Vasif

Apr 20, 2014 11:15am

@Pakistani We Mohajirs would gladly embrace the Pakistani identity only if "other five ethnicities" would stop referring to us as 'Mohajirs'. I am 27 and throughout my academics and career I have always been singled out as 'Mohajir', 'Bihari', 'Immigrant' by my Sindhi, Pathan and Punjabi acquaintances. I don't have any soft corners for MQM, because growing up, I've only seen them as a bunch of thugs using force as answer to everything like they own Karachi, yet everyone outside Khi would ask if I am a part of MQM, since i can only speak Urdu - that stereotyping sucks big time. That is why I can imagine what drove Altaf Hussain to form APMS/MQM, being refereed to as an immigrant in your own land is an attack on your identity which translates into one being treated as a 2nd grade citizen in your country. Yet it has been the Mohajirs (not MQM), running karachi as the business hub, backbone of this country's economy and still being discriminated at large, a discrimination which has been so deeply rooted in the mind of the populace that it doesn't even seem like a discrimination anymore.

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Karachiman

Apr 20, 2014 11:28am

@Pakistani:
There are couple of problems that Mohajirs face in integrating themselves.

First of all to answer your question, what binds them together is the fact that they went through "migration", left their homes and wealth, and came to Pakistan. Second of all, they all speak urdu and the sons of soils dont have that mother tongue. Third of all, some brutal events in history happened that made the Mohajir nation unite.

Why Mohajirs cant integrate? This is because until this day Mohajirs are not seen as true Pakistanis. You will say, "oh we 99% accept them bla bla bla", the truth is in the army, in the govt universities, in quotas, everything is constructed to keep Mohajirs out. Also, the eradication of Merit based system and implementation of quotas since decades has made Mohajirs feel alienated.

The solution is a separate province for the Mohajirs. The rulers of Sindh will forever be jaageerdar wadera families, what we need is to become a separate province "Sindh 2" that can rule itself and have its own say on security, economics, and manage the port Karachi.

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Syed Nazim

Apr 20, 2014 11:30am

Mahajirs are most unrealistic people. They voted for Pakistan without realising that most of them will not be able to migrate to Pakistan and will have to face anger of majority community in India for dividing the country.After coming to Pakistan, they should have realised that they are ethnic minority and will always be so hence should have developed more cordial relations with local communities by learning language and helping backward/poor class though education and encouraging them in raising standaerd of living. Minority can servive by developing skills in all fields, specially education. They should have given top priority to quality education istead of ethnic and regional politics. MQM should give up claim to rule Karachi alone. They must mend relations with other groups in Karachi with intention to bring peace and serve people without discrimination. Only rule of law peace in Karachi can bring prosperity to Karachi.

I am only calling you Mohajir because you prefer to call yourselves Mohajir. If you had tried to assimilate into the local cultures, there would be no Mohajir identity and without a separate identity, there would have been no discrimination against you. In fact,I personally can not physically differentiate between urban Punjabis, Sindhis and Mohajirs.

And even if you were discriminated against, does that give the Mohajir community in karachi to discriminate against other ethnicities today. This issue brings to mind the Israeli-Palestine conflict where the Jews(who were actually persecuted terribly in Europe) now see no harm in giving the same treatment to Palestinian people today.

As for the "Karachi as economic backbone part", anyone with an iota of economic knowledge would understand that financial centres only work because of the underlying economic production of the country. Karachi is a port so it is where the trade takes place and the revenue comes in. However, the actual production which is traded is produced all over Pakistan and not just in karachi. The Mohajirs, by history's chance, started living in Karachi and Karachi developed as a financial centre. That does not mean that Karachi, and the people who live in it, provide sustenance for the rest of Pakistan.

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Ahmad

Apr 20, 2014 11:39am

@Punjabi Mohajir: With all due respect, it seems that you are not fully aware of the ground reality. There are many factors involve in MQM or Mohajir Phenomena....There are few reasons for urban Sind population to vote MQM.

1) Sindh Chief Minister can not be Mohajir ( MQM was the largest party in Sindh Assembly eventhen Arbab Rahim, who was from PML-F became Sindh CM) This is discrimination...
2) Jinnahpur allegation which was proven wrong later...This is discrimination.....
3) Quota system (Only for Urban Sindh)This is discrimination.....
4) De-limitation of constituencies for Karachi only...This is discrimination....
5) Killing of Mohajir from 1992...This is discrimination.
6) New allegation of Mohajir Republican Army which next day proven wrong,...
7) Pakistani media used to call them RAW, CIA agents...now same media has been calling them Pakistani Army agents.. ISI or establishment's party.
8) No one is criticizing Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan or Zia. Only Mushurruf...kyun because he is Mohajir?? This is discrimination....
9) Any educated middle class or lower middle class individual can become MQM MNA, MPA
or Senator.
10) Never heard of any MQM leadership relatives in key posts....

So my dear brother....If the policy makers will keep discriminating then there will never be one nation.....it will always be Mohajir, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pakhtoon, Baluchi, Saraiki, Hazarawal etc........Currently in Pakistan we have everyone except Pakistani....

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Fawad

Apr 20, 2014 11:46am

@Pakistani:
Absolutely spot on...

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Jalbani Baloch

Apr 20, 2014 11:50am

I don't know for how long, the community which still calls itself as MOHAJIR and feel pride in it, will remain MOHAJIR in their own homeland, for which, their forefathers sacrificed their lives and properties. Like other immigrants, who migrated in the wake of disintegration of India, to Punjab, where they have been fully assimilated, these people should get integrated with native SINDHIs, who are the inheritor of their land. Sindhis are very generous and open-hearted and have invited MOHAJIRs repeatedly to consider Sindh as their motherland, and learn Sindhi language and adopt Sindhi culture.

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Mohammed

Apr 20, 2014 11:51am

@Vasif:
I'm sorry can't agree with you there. Mahajir entity got stronghold when urdu speaking population started to identify themselves as mahajirs rather than Pakistanis... Being an urdu speaker the threat of being alienated by my own people is the biggest....
Altaf hussain started MQM with political ambitions... Can you tell me how the situation for mahajirs has improved since he started the movement....

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Also Karachiwala

Apr 20, 2014 11:51am

@Karachiman:

What you don't realize is that Mohajirs only form 7.5% of the population. Sometimes it is just a matter of basic statistics and probability that Punjabis who form 60% of the population have a higher representation in the government departments.

In any case, this supposed 'discrimination' did not prevent two army generals, namely Zia and Musharraf who are both of Muhajir background, from subverting the Constitution, overthrowing democratically-elected governments, and ruling as dictators for about one-third of Pakistan's history.

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Nasir

Apr 20, 2014 11:55am

@Pakistani:
Dear Brother. You are right if we see things from above and it should have to be so principally. But the problems Urdu-speaking people faced in tying ourselves with other ethnicities living in Pakistan in comparison with the North Indians are cultural and civilizational differences due to a huge gape in education at that time. The gap was so terrible that you can't imagine i.e. if you go from Defense Lahore to Dairah Ghazi Khan/Layyah, what will be your feelings, though YOU can understand their language to some extent but we didn't at all. The culture of Pakistan was rough and raw. Even there was no slight comparison between Lahore and Karachi at that time.
But this gap has been filling till to date and hopefully it will be filled completely as days passes in future if Urdu speaking community would not be trapped in any ethinic bias. My wish and prayers are with you.

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event horizon

Apr 20, 2014 12:12pm

Good piece by NFP.

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BRR

Apr 20, 2014 12:14pm

Good interesting writeup by NFP. The Mohajirs seem to have expected special treatment due to a) their migration saga b) urban orientation and business background. However, The Mohajirs did succeed in making Urdu a national language, and therefore getting better jobs in government because of it. They seem to have prospered for a while at the cost of others, especially Sindhis. Now when their eliteness is being challenged, they call foul, and thye develop a siege mentality.

Strange phenomenon, the Mohajirs.

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Yousuf

Apr 20, 2014 12:14pm

@Ahmed
Hope that the TRUE PAKISTANIS have answers to the points u raised. I am sure if they had, there will be one united Pakistan one day.

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Khan

Apr 20, 2014 12:20pm

Nadeem failed to mention the bias against Muhajirs by Ayub khan regime, quota system by Bhutto specially urban and rural quota only applicable in Sindh designed against Muhajirs. Aren't Muhajirs are called by the rest of the remaining 4 ethnicities as Muhajirs and specially discriminated in jobs. Now if people in Pakistan call us Muhajirs and discriminate in jobs in the city where we live and didnt realize they are discriminating why the fuss If we call ourselves a Muhajirs. Stop calling us Muhajirs and treat us as Pakistanis. The rural Sindh discrimination against urban Sindh population is now evident during PPP rule where municipal entities are disbanded and no major development happened in Karachi and other urban areas since years.

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ishrat salim

Apr 20, 2014 12:22pm

@Ahmad:
Spot on....agree 100 %...

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Anjum Ayub

Apr 20, 2014 12:27pm

@Jalbani Baloch:
That's why as Paracha correctly points out, one of the new dimestions that MQM added to Mohajir nationalism from 2002 onwards was to start calling mohajirs 'Urdu speaking Sindhis.' I am Sindhi and I appreciate this gesture.

I think you missed the following paragraph from the article:
*It began to explain the Mohajirs as

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Khan

Apr 20, 2014 12:28pm

@Pakistani:
Balochistan has port too why it is not generating revenue? Even that port is developed by a muhajir General. Karachi provide 50 percent of revenue of Pakistan Now if that is not providing sustenance to rest of Pakistan then is it agricultural tax collected from Punjab doing that. Not accepting the fact and bias mentality is the crux of the problem.

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Bashier

Apr 20, 2014 12:38pm

@Ahmad:
You are absolutely true about the facts and no one can deny this

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Malik

Apr 20, 2014 12:41pm

@Khan:
Although I really don't want to explain basic economics to you, I will still try. Gwadar isn't working because less than 1% of Pakistan's population lives there which means it can't be a financial centre. There are no strong road and rail links to Gwadar. And Gwadar is just 10 years old while Karachi has been developed by PAKISTANIS for more than 60 years.

And the 50% that you quoted is just a myth. And the "Pakistani" commenter guy abpve has already explained why a port brings in all the revenue....because it is a port.

One example would be pakistan's major export, cotton. From where is it produced(Punjab) and from where is it exported(Karachi)? You have your answer.

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Ursilla Anjum

Apr 20, 2014 12:51pm

Excellent piece. It briefly but convincingly traces the reasons behind the emergence of Mohajir nationalism. The piece is honest and cuts through the usual misconceptions that abound about this nationalism. Mohajirs have finally laid down their roots in Sindh and for this made the necessary political, social and ideological adjustments as mentioned in this article. MQM just happened to be the party expressing this. It would have happened anyway.

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Khan

Apr 20, 2014 01:04pm

@Malik:
What stops the PAKISTANIS to settle in Gwadar and develop it as Karachi? Railway is anyway dysfunctional in Karachi. Road till Gwadar has been developed by Musharraf in the form of coastal highway. It's not only the port which generates the revenue but the industries and vibrant working class who are contributing Revene in the form of taxes. Why not tax the cotton producer of Punjab and on other agricultural products of Punjab to collect revenue. As for 50% myth check the figures as I mentioned the problem is bias mindset.

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Khan

Apr 20, 2014 01:06pm

@Pakistani:
Let me explain you how people from vastly different areas of India were amalgamate into one distinct Mohajirs entity. It's the uniform and persistent discrimination against all of them by the people sitting in power.

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think_then_speak

Apr 20, 2014 01:10pm

@Pakistani:
As NFP has pointed out, the fear factor of being not belonging to the soil kept the Mohajir uprooted and aided in their coming close to each other. Further the Indian urban and suburban culture had some common grounds that help the Mohajirs to find core identity focus. Lastly the common interest of Mohajirs to initially act as the educated pioneers in administration and military (as the detachments of military initially also hailed from undivided India), and then to find common strategy of concentrating in Karachi and other urban foci in Pakistan are enough grounds for Mohajirs to stay distinct from the autochthonous ethnic groups of Pakistan and coalesce together and form Mohajir identity.

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Parvez

Apr 20, 2014 01:40pm

On reading this what came to my mind was that the concept of ' One Unit ' floated a long time ago was a good one...........it died because it was abused. Possibly its time to revive the CONCEPT once again because its never been more necessary that we function as ONE, than it is today.

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Sabir Hameed

Apr 20, 2014 01:41pm

What son of soil I am. Who is to be called my Mother. I was born in Karachi in 1980 in an Urdu speaking family. The Hindus who had migrated to India in 1947 had become the son of India the moment they landed there. But here what we see is the attitude of people who will never become a good nation.

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H.A

Apr 20, 2014 02:14pm

Let's quote something here
The distribution of seats in CSS gets Punjab 50 % on the basis of population since it constitutes 50 % population of Pakistan. By that definition, Karachi's population is 11% of Pakistan and it's seat are lumped in Sindh Urban( Hyd,Sukkar,Khi ) at 7.6%. Guess my maths suck big time,

Point is, there IS discrimination and everyone does not respond gently against it.

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raj

Apr 20, 2014 02:22pm

There were people who migrated from Pakistan to India so what is the reason they don't have a tag like the once who migrated to Pakistan.

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zeeshan

Apr 20, 2014 02:30pm

@Khan:
i bet you would laugh at yourself, once you the reality behind the so called" 50% revenue karachi dayta" hay syndrome. tax collected through headoffice of multi nationals such as unilever p&g ,pso, shell etc doesnt mean it was paid by karachites,it is actually paid by consumers living in all pakistan,65% of whom are in punjab, and less than 7% in karachi combined.countless heads of state department such as judiciary,armed forces,bureaucracy
migrated from India but none of them called themselve mahajair.

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Samad

Apr 20, 2014 02:50pm

What people here ignores intentionally the concept of word mohajir or urdu speaking. People in Pakistan proudly call themselves as proud pakhtoon or punjabiyan di shan vakhri, but when it comes to mohajir their stomachs ache for some reason.

Mohajir is just the identification just like punjabi, pathans or other ethnicity and mixing it with the concept that mohajir refer themselves mohajir because they don't want to amalgamate with Pakistan is utterly nonsense.
Some pseudo intellectuals are also asking why mohajir did not learn the languages when they came here. Same question goes to them that decades have past since Punjabis, pathans move to Karachi and they did not learn the sindhi language, someone can please get the answer from them?

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Ghani

Apr 20, 2014 02:56pm

@Tehmina Hilaly :
Superb answer!

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saqib Khan

Apr 20, 2014 03:13pm

@Punjabi Mohajir: It may be your forefather choice to totally merge in to Punjabi Culture may be they didn't have the choice at that time and its No matter of proud to forget your own roots, If you going to Migrate to Canada or Australia are you going to forget your Roots your Own Way of life and Culture. No Way, Mohajirs who came from UP, Bihar and other parts had very Strong Rooted Culture, Food Way of life and in NO mean it was possible to merge into Inferior.

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ismail

Apr 20, 2014 03:19pm

Isn't that strange??? In Pakistan, Being Sindhi is Ok, Being Punjabi is Ok, Being Pakhtun, Baluch or anyother is Ok, but Why Being Muhajar is still a problem? Are these Muhajars are the only criminals in Pakistan? Don't you remember It was the Muhajars who gave away almost everything for the very existence of Pakistan....

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Ali Rehan

Apr 20, 2014 03:37pm

@Vasif:
Biharis are discriminated against even by other Urdu speaking community factions; the reasons being very simple: they utterly refuse to amalgamate into other groups. They refuse to inter-marry even with other Urdu speaking groups and this has resulted in their complete alienation. Despite the fact that there have been great amounts of intermarriages b/w other factions of Urdu speaking groups with the native groups - punjabis, pakhtuns, sindhis.

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Muhammad Atif

Apr 20, 2014 04:38pm

@Pakistani

Valid question brother. but this is because NFP has censored the important dark landmarks of history. Here are few I can remember.

1) Gohar Ayub rally in Karachi after Ayub Success. (why it was organized and what happened during it)
2) Quota system introduced by ZA . divided sindh on paper at least.
3) Bushra Zaidi case
4) Massacre in Orangi Town.
5) pakka qila hyderabad massacre.
6) Long operation of karachi as a final solution to MQM and what happend during those dark days.

Btw you can ask the very same question to now Balochis, Hindus and Christines.

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Ali S

Apr 20, 2014 04:52pm

From reading the comments here, I notice that an argument that often comes up is why don't so-called Mohajirs give up their Mohajir identity and embrace a neutral Pakistani one instead? We will as soon as Punjabis, Sindhis, Pakhtuns and every other ethnicity in Pakistan do the same - they want to have their cake and eat it too. Anyone who thinks that racial profiling in Pakistan's institutions is exaggerated is living in fool's paradise.

It's about time that we face the fact that nationality or religion isn't as strong a binding force as language - like any other ethnic group in Pakistan, Mohajirs identify themselves as such because they share the same native language (Urdu). The only solution is embracing our diversity instead of suppressing it - the Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Baloch and Sindhis have their own province, let the Mohajirs and Seraikis have their own and give all provinces more autonomy to govern themselves instead of centralizing the power with a hegemonic federal govt.

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asher

Apr 20, 2014 05:35pm

"mentioning Ayub Khan regime and opportunity to the pukhtoon" is just out of the way argument for Mohjirs discontent with Pakistani establishment. Pukhtons are the worst sufferers of Pakistani state policies since last 4 decades.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 05:49pm

Reading all the comments made me realized, what about those Biharis who were born and bred Pakistanis, where not allowed to come back to their co called home land after 71..

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SaeedS

Apr 20, 2014 05:54pm

Race, regional and religion divide people.No reason justify existing of these things in national level. Regional and religion Politics have no place in today's time.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 06:14pm

@Punjabi Mohajir:
It is hard to interest those who have everything in those who have nothing. whose interest we are safeguarding in Pakistan.... it is all about self interest... not national interest...Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 06:20pm

@Vasif:
From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 06:27pm

@Karachiman:
Every social injustice is not only cruel, it is evil, it is the mother of all problems above all it is economic waste.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 06:32pm

@Syed Nazim:
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

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Talat H

Apr 20, 2014 06:32pm

Pakistani identity ? ............. pray, define that ?

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Awan

Apr 20, 2014 06:52pm

@saqib Khan: Your comment is very racist. You are calling people of UP as superior and stating that they cannot be integrated into Inferior class Sindhis and Punjabis????. It is one of the most Racist comments i have ever seen here. Your type of thinking is actually making hindrance to the Assimilation here. Immigration and Assimilation is a constant phenomena but calling yourself as Superior so you cannot be integrated into the new land that is giving you everything is uncalled for , disgusting and disrespectful.

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khanm

Apr 20, 2014 06:52pm

After 65 five years we are still called Mohajirs..how i wish if my parents would have migrated to the land of opportunity not as an alien but as a welcome new comer... wonder why they still refer us as Mohajirs. we are born and raised in Pakistan.... those those migrated in 47 are probably dead and gone... why this debate.....what is the purpose, what are we going to get out of this debate.It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations that is the choice we have to make....

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zainab

Apr 20, 2014 07:01pm

@Pakistani:
The reason mohajirs from different background were able to integrate into a larger distinct community, and could not integrate into the local Pakistanis was the non-acceptance of these mohajirs by the locals. I remember that mohajirs were called "panahgirs" by the locals and were considered low class by them. The locals resented the educated elite among the mohajirs, who were gradually side-lined. The mohajirs faced discrimination in all walks of life from the very beginning and not from the beginning of Ayub Khan's rule, as the author indicated. Those who are old enough know that the area of Pakistan was purely agricultural and rural and Hindus (educated elite) were running the government there before the partition. After partition these Hindus left and it were the mohajirs who managed run the government, which the locals resented but had no choice. This resentment unfortunately still persists and does not allow integration of various ethnic groups.

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Awan

Apr 20, 2014 07:04pm

@Ali S:
You stated that Muhajirs speak Urdu only. You are absolutely wrong. My family came from Amritsar Punjab and they then settled in Lahore. Most of the Migrants actually came from Punjab and they all speak Punjabi. They integrated well and called themselves as Punjabis now. But not only Migrants from Punjab but many from UP etc regions also assimilated locally.
But the Urdu Speakers in Sindh are not only failing to integrate but also trying to hijack the Immigrant identity.

For your info Muhajirs used to speak different languages. Most migrants who made Punjab as their home integrated well into Punjabi identity since Punjabi identity is Geographical and cultural but some people dont want to be a part of local identity and they failed in Punjab.

Muhajir identity is a phenomena in Sindh mainly where they are trying to make a new identity. In Punjab neither they are any Quotas nor anyone is forced to be stated as a different person other than Punjabi unless that person dont want to be integrated and assimilated with the local people.

In my view atleast in Punjab the Muhajir identity will be fully integrated into Punjabi identity in the future because of Punjabi definition is Geographical and Cultural and since Intermarriages are very common and intermarriages end this difference. In Sindh intermarriages between Sindhi and Urdu speakers is almost non existent and that is another reason for the problems.

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excalibur

Apr 20, 2014 07:06pm

@Pakistani: This is impossible because like the Hindus , the Punjabis are also denominated by a caste system even today Plus the Punjab had zero contribution in the creation of Pakistan but has hijacked it since the time the Quaid and Liaquat Ali were eliminated by them and later the Bengalis also

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excalibur

Apr 20, 2014 07:07pm

@Jameel:
where is the infringement ? Karachi remains a Dubai for people from all provinces regardless of the Capital snatched away to the Punjab/ KPK by Ayub

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excalibur

Apr 20, 2014 07:11pm

@Tehmina Hilaly :
When put against the wall based upon parochialism and quota system , Mohajirs had to have an identity of their own

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excalibur

Apr 20, 2014 07:14pm

@Syed Nazim:
The fact is that the Punjab was to be a part of India till the last minute but it was windfall for them to hog into a majority post independence when the Quaid was let down hugely by the Punjab ( feroz khan noon and the Unionists )

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Omar

Apr 20, 2014 07:17pm

@Ejaz:
NFP conveniently ignores the fact that most mohajirs in karachi came from India way after 1947. They were not forced out because of riots but rather opportunity of success. Actually mass migration from India to karachi peaked till 1960s.

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Sh

Apr 20, 2014 07:25pm

I fail to understand why the same people who are willing to integrate into western society and culture by learning their language and wearing their clothes are so reluctant in Pakistan to learn Sindhi and to integrate with the Sindhis.

May I tell you that in the entire world asylum seekers are asked to first learn the language of that country. Why this should not be implemented in Sindh. Also, Muhajirs (Refugees) live in "Refujee Camps" not in separate provinces.

Are Muhajirs trying to punish Sindhis for being generous to offer them their homeland. Sindh is a land which has always welcomed the immigrants. Most of the Sindhi speaking today in the province are immigrants including all Baloch tribes, makhdooms, syeds etc. Why then muhajirs cannot learn Sindhi?

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imran ali

Apr 20, 2014 07:30pm

there are many people who came from Bukhara since very long ,they still call them self as Bukhari...Why? there are 40% quota for urban sindh but urban area represent by 5%only there is only one SSP no DIG from urdu speaking.....every day urdu speaking torture death bodies are being..found ,even court is taking notice of these extra-judicial killing...abusive languages in punjabi are being used by LEAs

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deccani

Apr 20, 2014 07:34pm

I am surprised that the author chose not to describe how the Zia regime cultivated MQM to counterbalance Jamate Islami

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Naseer

Apr 20, 2014 07:38pm

Dear NFP your articles are usually great and have a lot of research behind them. One point missed in this article is the sense of being sidelined experienced by Mohajirs due to quota system or more specifically implementation of urban and rural only in Sindh. I strongly support helping common Sindhi's but the quota system only helped feudal lords and because of this incompetent people came in powerful positions giving rise to corruption and malice.
Correct way to help common Sindhi's would have been to improve education and let them be strong that way, which Bhutto had started too, but many feudal lords did not want that.

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Salman from Canada

Apr 20, 2014 07:38pm

Obviously the author's thinking is shaped by his Pakistani environment. However, I would like to make the following observations. In his very opening sentence he conflates mohajirs with Urdu-speakers. The literal translation of mohajir is migrant, not Urdu-speaker and my understanding of the migration at partition is that there were more migrants from East Punjab, than from the Urdu-speaking areas of India. In Pakistan, the East Punjabis integrated linguistically and culturally with the West Punjabis; they cannot be distinguished; the Urdu-speaking migrants on the other hand did not fit into any of the provincial linguistic groups; which I believe is the reason why one group of migrants still carries the 'mohajir' tag.
As for not being "sons of the soil". I checked with my Canadian friends if they knew what it meant; they had never heard those words; but they guessed it meant someone who tilled the land, a farmer and that is exactly right. I am sure the author can do his research and correct me; however I can assure him that it does not mean being born inside a country. And, even if that were true the majority of Urdu-speaking Pakistanis were born in Pakistan, so that should make them 'sons of the soil' in the Pakistani context.
Slightly digressing from the subject, and I am open to correction; we have been told that Mr. Jinnah was born in Karachi although there is no definitive proof of that; I guess there were no birth certificates in those days. We all know that his father Mr. Poonja moved from Gondal, Kathiawar State in Gujurat to Karachi and it is possible that he was born in his ancestral village of Paneli and not in Karachi.
Mr. Jinnah never spoke any of the provincial languages of Pakistan; and his knowledge of Urdu was limited to a smattering. I am not sure if he could speak any Gujurati either. In Jan. 1915 Mr. Jinnah gave the welcome address at the reception given by the Bombay Gurjar Sabha on Ghandi's return from South Africa; he spoke in English, while Ghandi spoke in Gujurati. In Mar. 1940 in Lahore ( famous for the Lahore Resolution ) he spoke in English. The language which Mr. Jinnah was really fluent in was English.
I am curious to know which ethnic category does the author think the chief architect of Pakistan would have fitted into, if any.

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Malveros

Apr 20, 2014 07:42pm

@Khan:
Karachi provides 50% of revenue doesn't mean it's indigenous revenue and Mohajirs are responsible for creating it. Stop promoting such false notions. The majority of that revenue are taxes, duties etc. whose origination is from all provinces of Pakistan and mostly from Punjab province.

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Ahmad

Apr 20, 2014 07:51pm

@Sh:
I.K.Gujral was from Pakistani Punjab, he migrated back to India. People of India accepted him as an Indian and he become Indian Prime Minister. L.K.Advani was from Sind Pakistan, he migrated back to India and become Deputy Prime Minister of India. my simple question to you. Will you accept urdu speaking Chief Minister for your province. I know your answer :) Why urdu-speaker learn sindhi language to prove their patriotism with Pakistan?? I don't think so that there was any such condition Mr. Jinnah mentioned to Urdu-Speaking people before or after the creation of Pakistan.....My brother please without any hatred or without getting sentimental just think the land of Sind before Pakistan was belong to whom??????????? Urban Sind was mostly populated with Parsies or Hindus.....,...Therefore, you would be able to find colleges with Hindu and Parsies name.....Adamjee, DJ (I guess Denanath Jetharam) NED (Nadirjee Edensji Dinshaw)You can still visit old Karachi...you will see the construction which still gives the look of old hindu heritage...

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imran ali

Apr 20, 2014 07:52pm

@imran ali:
correction even court are not taking notice of these extra-judicial killing

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Nadeem Jamali

Apr 20, 2014 08:36pm

Nice job glossing over the events of late 1940s and early 1950s when the Mohajirs, aided by their Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan, arrived in Sindh as occupiers and engaged in their often murderous campaign of ethnically cleansing major cities of Sindhis in general and Hindus in particular. If you consider that context, the event of the 1980s make a lot more sense: Mohajirs were simply trying to regain ground lost in the 1970s. MQM's rise was partly orchestrated by Zia in order to neutralize the potential threat from Sindhi separatists who gave him trouble during the MRD movement. This article confirms my earlier suspicions about NFP.

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Umar Aftab

Apr 20, 2014 08:47pm

A point to note here is that 77.4% of the immigration was in Punjab and the urdu speaking immigrants were relatively small in number. Why did 77.4% of the immigrants didn't have any issues in integrating? Why they don't identify themselves as mohajirs?
NFP brought an excellent point that at the time of partition the urdu speakers were more educated and as such they held a greater share of government jobs. This however, was unlikely to last forever, because of simple maths. The community leaders took various actions and approaches to counter this and unfortunately all were not positive.

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Ali Pakistani

Apr 20, 2014 09:01pm

Mohajir is a group of people, just as the Punjabi, Sindhi etc etc. What is the problem?

They are as Pakistani as the other groups residing in Pakistan, like the Punjabi and Sindhi etc .

The MQM is a political party, favored by the the people of urban Sind, who are Mohajirs,

just like PPP favored by people of rural Sindh and

PML-N favored by people of Punjab and

ANP favored by people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, etc.

I really do not understand why do we single out Mohajirs and the MQM.

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Shahpur

Apr 20, 2014 09:10pm

Where is and how is Mehraj Mohammad Khan these days. I have not seen his name anywhere, associated with any political group.

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Ahmad

Apr 20, 2014 09:22pm

One simple question to all......When leader of Rural Sind gave statement on Nawaz Sharif departure to Saudia after military rule." Prime Minister of Lakarna was hanged and Prime Minister of Lahore was allowed to leave the country" Was that the nationalism ?? When Nawaz Sharif gave the slogan "Jaag Punjabi Jaag" was that the nationalism??When Zulfiqar Mirza said in a public gathering that " we had decided to break Pakistan but Zardari saved Pakistan" The best was the guy who wanted to break Pakistan became interior minister...Was that nationalism or Patriotism???? But if Mohajirs demand another province then we take this as treason and a conspiracy to beak Pakistan...Bottom line is we haven't learnt lesson from former East Pakistan........And interestingly, on this forum.....we all are divided....Mohajir and urdu speakers have been trying to explain the reasons.....and without noticing their reasons....people are saying them to go back to India or go to the refugee camps.... :) This is what exactly happening in actual..........We are agreed to talk to people who have been killing our soldiers and civilians.....but we dont want to listen or talk to Mohajirs (urdu speakers) and we dont want to listen their reasons.......Why??????

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Ali S

Apr 20, 2014 09:27pm

@Awan:

You just proved my point. Like I said, language is largely what determines one's identity. Punjabi-speaking migrants from India (like your family) integrated readily into Punjab and intermarried with Pakistani Punjabis because their culture was the same. But the vast majority of Urdu-speaking Mohajirs were from central and northern India, they settled in urban Sindh for logistical reasons (Karachi was the financial hub) and their culture is quite different from those of the local Sindhis. What do you suggest? They should start speaking Sindhi and wearing ajraks at home?

We have to embrace our diversity and live alongside each other instead of ostracizing those who don't readily give up their identity to blend in with the majority population of their area. In a country as multicultural as Pakistan, this 'join-us-or-leave-us' attitude (which all political parties, including MQM, are responsible for fostering) will sow only more ethnic hatred and prove to be disastrous.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:28pm

@Ahmad:
A great analysis. Thanks

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:35pm

@BRR:
It is simply a mind set bias thought. It has nothing to do with reality.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:38pm

@Khan:
Very true and to the point. Thanks

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:41pm

@Khan:
Thank you khan for your honest and daring analysis. You have guts and you make sense.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:45pm

@thinkthenspeak:
Great analysis. Thanks

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Salman from Canada

Apr 20, 2014 09:46pm

@Ali S:
If " language is what determines your identity " then the Sikh Punjabis and Hindu Punjabis share the same identity as the Muslim Punjabis.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 09:47pm

@Khan:
That is the bottom line. Thank you Khan.

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Sayyar Khan

Apr 20, 2014 09:47pm

You are stating that they immigrated from India and is the only ethnicity that donot belong to Pak soil. A few days ago their great leader issued a statement by trying to get Mahajor and Sindhi united to push other ethnicities out of Karachi by calling them both sons of soil. I understand Sindhi as sons of Sindh but it's funny that he calls mohajors as Sindhi sons. Term Mohajors there own language cannot be son of any soil. They were unhappy in India and now they are crying here so what's next Arabian Sea.

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Sayyar Khan

Apr 20, 2014 09:53pm

@Vasif:
You guys always claim running Karachi. Was there no Karachi before Mohajors moved there was Karachi a desert. There was a big reason people move to Karachi opportunity just like others you guys or your forefather saw that so quit saying we run Karachi. Karachi was a big city and peaceful before Mohajors moved there and now a mess.

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imran ali

Apr 20, 2014 09:53pm

unfortunately we are not able become as a pakistani nation ,because true history of creation of pakistan were never given to those who were born after 1947,the battle of pakistan was fought in muslim minority area..Towards the end of 1946, between 30 October and 7 November, a large-scale massacre of Muslims in Bihar brought Partition closer to inevitability. ,this was the word of Quaid...when Pakistan was created every thing was held up by India,there was shortage of stationery ,proper office,it was financed by habib family ,muslim gujrati memon,and contribution from Nezam of Deccan ,muslim ICS were transferred to both part of Pakistan,many of them against their will,because there few ICS officers from area belonging to present pakistan,and they ran the govt effectively.when Ayub Khan came to power service of13000 govt servant where terminated,and gradually son of soil were inducted ,now it has become most corrupt institution and politician were not corrupt..it was Ayub who introduced corruption in politics and in civil service ,even majority present generation has no knowledge that Muslim league was formed by Fazal haq in Dacca

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Sayyar Khan

Apr 20, 2014 09:55pm

@Karachiman:
Is this a joke. Musharaf. Zia Ul Haq. These 2 are Muhajars. And look at the mess both created.

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Saeed

Apr 20, 2014 09:59pm

@Syed A. Zafar USA:
The article provides a simplistic view of a complex situation and skips mention of specific facts that mitigated the alienation of Urdu speaking people. Sind is the only province which separates quotas between its rural and urban populations for education and jobs, federal govt also follows this policy. If I have to be called an immigrant, I might as well be called that in a foriegn country rather than my own

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Nizamuddin Ahmad Aali

Apr 20, 2014 10:01pm

Paracha sahib has left on key factor, i.e quota system in job market. Quota has hurt Mohajirs more than any thing. Quota had a purpose and was for ten years only. Islamabad was built only to get the Punjab a boost and we can see today the fruits of the conspiracy. Ayub Khan could not have ruled with his cronies in Pakistan as a unlawful dictator, Karachi being capital city. First thing he did was that he fired all the honest Mohajir seniot civil service officers and moved the capital. I have never understood why every one ( almost all ) wants work and live in Karachi but hates Karachi if he or she is not Urdu speaking Mohajir.

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Ahmed

Apr 20, 2014 10:05pm

Extortion is also evolved with MQM

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Hassan

Apr 20, 2014 10:07pm

@Jalbani Baloch:
lol so basically there can be a provincial act for gilgit-baltistan but not for Mohajirs? lol
amazing way of saying the discrimination will keep going unless you do A B C... wow what a mentality.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 10:15pm

@Sabir Hameed:
Dear Sabir, Not only you have valid point, but also your message to a nation which is mostly dominated and hijacked by by one kind of people is quite loud and clear. But what you can do when minds are set and "Remaining in state of Denial" is the strategy of exclusive agents of Pakistan. This strategy worked very well in forcing Bengalis to separate from dominant Punjab, I mean Pakistan and this is "Work in progress" in Baluchistan and Sindh. The term "Son of the soil" is poisonous and racial and a tool to say no to those who gave away every thing in the making of Pakistan. It is shame.

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Khurram

Apr 20, 2014 10:31pm

surprise surprise.. all the humor and satirist talent of NFP evaporates when it comes to MQM.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 10:33pm

@Samad:
Thank you Samad. However, it is of no use trying to convince the biased minds. No matter what, those who are bound to hate Urdu speaking people will keep labeling and calling names, as they did to Bengalis who finally chose to say good bye to the contractors of Pakistan. It takes open minds, clean hearts and of course some conscience.

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Syed A. Zafar USA

Apr 20, 2014 10:40pm

@Ali S:
Very well and rightly said. Thank you Ali.

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Sheraz Abbasi

Apr 20, 2014 10:42pm

@Tehmina Hilaly :
That is not true. Most families in Karachi do align themselves with MQM

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Awan

Apr 20, 2014 10:45pm

@Ali S: Well Brother actually you did not understood my point in a concise manner. In my family my two cousins wedded with those girls whose family actually came from UP and were Urdu speakers in the past. Their current third generation dont care about the past and they are living in Lahore like Lahoris with no identity crisis whatsoever. It were not only the Punjabi migrants but migrants from other regions as well who got integrated here as well.

The situation in Sindh and in Punjab is pretty different. Even the migrants from non Punjabi background are integrated and only few left especially in smaller cities who still identify with their past regions.

But i must add we cannot blame the Migrants of failing to integrate but actually some Indigenous people had the problem as well. For example still many people in Punjab believe in the cast system especially in smaller cities and even bigger cities like Faisalabad have caste system embedded in them and they consider people with no caste as Migrants and it is their fault. This is the same situation in Sindhi population where Tribal structure is failing the Homogenization process.

I also believe in Diversity. But I really believe Diversity is good in the whole of Pakistan but Homogeneity within the region is important. for the Uplift and group cohesiveness that includes the similar language and culture within a peculiar region is vital for progress.

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Haider

Apr 20, 2014 10:47pm

@Tehmina Hilaly : Get a life!

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Awan

Apr 20, 2014 10:55pm

@excalibur:
I am appalled at your debasing comment against the people of one Pakistani region under the pretext of this discussion.
For your information Liaquat Ali Khan and Muhammad Zafarullah Khan were born on the Indian Side of Punjab. Liauqat Ali Khan was born in Karnal that is still the predominantly Punjabi speaking region in India.
So kindly while using such degrading language dont distort any fact.

Also kindly study the life of the father of Current Railway Minister's Khawaja Saad Rafique|s father history who was a Migrant from Indian Punjab and rendered great service for the cause of independance. Kindly dont discredit anyone while giving diferent biased rationales.

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Ganga Din

Apr 20, 2014 11:03pm

"In fact,I personally can not physically differentiate between urban Punjabis, Sindhis and Mohajirs."

Are you blind? It takes 30 seconds to differentiate an Urdu speaking individual even in western countries.

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mba

Apr 20, 2014 11:07pm

I am away from country for a long time, but remain interested in Pakistani politics. I would like to point out some factors regarding MQM &

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Najam

Apr 20, 2014 11:19pm

I think what is missing in this piece is role of MQM. This political party has destroyed the future of Muhajirs by handing them guns and with that they destroyed the bright future of Karachi.

Had this political party not come to existence, I am sure Karachi would have become a great destination for Foreign investment and software hub. Yes, this a foregone conclusion but the lesson one must learn is that violence and hate lead to destruction. The same is true for Deobandi sect, may be they can learn from MQM.

NFP is correct. MQM is trying to change their ways however, I feel it is too little and too late. They are unable to extricate themselves from their bloody past. They have progressed far enough to adopt and accept liberal and progressive thought but they haven't figured out how propagate these policies.

1) They are not able to attract young crowd that is going to PTI even though PTI is another fascist party in the making.
2) They haven't succeeded in extricating, disassociating themselves from militants.
3) They haven't been able to spread their social /educational network ( yes they recently opened a new University but they need to open 10 more universities like this)

Lets see what holds for future of MQM.

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Saqib Mohiuddin

Apr 20, 2014 11:49pm

@Pakistani:
They might would have, but what would you say about Quota System......?

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Saqib Mohiuddin

Apr 20, 2014 11:51pm

@Ejaz:
Yes Ejaz you are absolutely right. Very simple, the ones who moved in Punjab were not forced to live in one city as in case of Sindh. And never faced quota system.

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multani

Apr 21, 2014 12:01am

HI

is there any chance you guys are planning to call back Hindus who migrated to India in 1947 ??

P.S. i am natively from multan (KashyapPura) and haven't been to that city ever but really want to because you know feeling ;)
can't we just forget all the hate of past and live as humans just humas ??

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ali ahmed

Apr 21, 2014 12:19am

@Sayyar Khan:
one day you will say Nawaz shareef is Kashmiri mohajir

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Salman from Canada

Apr 21, 2014 12:19am

@multani:
I don't have a problem. You are welcome. Ask your fellow Multanis?
Not sure if it is true, but I had heard there were some Sikhs buying real estate in Lahore.

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kashif

Apr 21, 2014 01:03am

I live in houston tx, migrated to the US over 19 years ago now. I proudly claim myself as a Pakistani American. No one questions me why are you a Pakistani American and haven't assimilated for example within the dominant anglo saxon culture.

So why is there such a hue and cry if i call myself an urdu speaking pakistani? What is at issue here? How does this hurt sindh or Pakistan for that matter? Now if other ethnicities in Pakistan will be willing to stop calling themselves punjabi, sindhi or seraiki, then i will also be happy to do so as well. Just because we were not natives doesnt mean we should kill our culture, our values and our identity. We are here, we are a fact, we are different ethnicity but that is not a bad thing. Pakistanis need to be proud of all the different cultures which reside within it. Not treat them with suspicion. And lastly for Pakistan to prosper it has to be a land of opportunity for one and all, irrespective of their ethnicity, every one should get a fair shake.

I say promote all the different diversity of Pakistan, own it, promote it and love it, because in this will be your success. No need to loose your cultural identity what a travesty would that be, why would you want to loose thousands of years of culture?

If you are a sindhi pakistani be proud, if you are a punjabi pakistani be proud, if you are a pakhtun pakistani be proud, if you are seraiki pakistani be proud & yes if you are a urdu speaking pakistani then be proud. We are blessed with so much culture, be PROUD!

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Mansoor Haq

Apr 21, 2014 01:08am

All the nationalities in Pakistan are like a flower bouquet. Mohajirs being the most educated and well to do community should have played a role of binding these flowers together ( and thus a strong Pakistan) by not being only confined to Karachi but spread all over Pakistan and engaging in inter marriages. It's never too late, we can still do it!

I am only Pakistani and don't want to be called a mohajir though our family migrated from Delhi, India.

Mansoor

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adam memon

Apr 21, 2014 01:09am

When Ayub Khan shifted capital to Islamabad the Muhagir a cream of nation did not went to Islamabad. Everybody wants to settle in Karachi.We progress during the period of Ayub Khan but difference of Ayub Khan and Z.A.Bhuto on tashkant is the downfall of our beloved country.Nationalization distroy the education and business, and uptill now we are not settle.
May Allah bless our beloved country.

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Pakistani

Apr 21, 2014 01:22am

Muhajirs are the most nationalist Pakistanis out there and their love for Pakistan is far beyond other Pakistanis can imagine. They are Pakistanis first and always. Karachiites have always protected and supported Pakistan and they will continue to do so because they have real love for the country.

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Arsalan

Apr 21, 2014 01:29am

looking at the pattern of comments the discussion more looks like a rebuttal of some sort. one must not look at it as if one ethnicity is evil or vice versa. why shouldn't we look at it from a problem solving approach. neutrally speaking who hasn't capitalized on their ethnicities. terms like Sindh Card and slogans like jaag Punjabi jaag Teri pag nu lag gaya daag evidence our ethnic orientation making assimilation of identities look like a fallacy. let's ask ourselves if we r ready to forego our ethnic background for a national identity. may be only if doing so could leave us financially and better off. its all about control over resources and wealth. our power corridors no know ethnicities nor sects. its only us ignorants who cry on these silly issues. :)

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gary

Apr 21, 2014 01:35am

@Jalbani Baloch:

Why would Biharis learn sindhi language when they have their own language urdu to speak with. This is what you people do, shovel your religion and culture down the throats of others wherever you go. If India can survive with more than twenty offcial languages, why Pakistan, a smaller country, cannot do it? Pakistan, from the beginning, was ruled by small people. They were street politicians, not statesmen. Hence the problems.

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Abbas Syed

Apr 21, 2014 02:00am

@Pakistani:
Pakistani is a citizenship not a nation like, Punjabi, Pusthun, Baloch or Sindhi. Mohajirs would have helped themselves best had they integrated into the culture of the province they settled in.

I could only smile reading this long-ish analysis by NFP on Muhajirs. Most objective non Pakistani analysts usually will talk a little bit about Punjabi's of Pakistan, who have pretty much shut out everybody else as far as true power is concerned. If you where to believe NWP Punjabis appear to be a silent majority watching the events from sidelines. Heck he even blamed Pathans and Ayub but had nothing to say about Punjabis.
Jaag Punjabi Jaag! what a joke.

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dr. shafique

Apr 21, 2014 02:34am

And Pakistanis have the temerity to criticize the treatment of minorities in other countries. Stop throwing stones -- you live in glass houses yourselves.

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faisal

Apr 21, 2014 02:44am

@Pakistani:
Define Pakistani identity.

Why should I sacrifice my heritage when my parents were always called and considered muhajrs that too pejoratively. We will never be accepted as sons - of - the- soil, we know that and accept that and hence the reason for wearing the badge of muhajrs with pride.

As muhajrs we are very diverse, this muhajir identity was thrusted upon us, we would love to be just identified as Pakistani but life is not that simple for us.

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Tariq K Sami

Apr 21, 2014 02:48am

At its very basic MQM demands were simple enough local government.

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Nadeem Jamali

Apr 21, 2014 02:50am

@zainab:
Hindus did not just leave Sindh in 1947. Mohajirs started massacring them, which eventually led to a mass exodus in 1948. Besides, why does the religion of the 1947 Sindhi urban elites matter? They were part of a very integrated Sindhi society. Their different religion was simply a pretext for the land grab by Mohajirs. What if another group came to Karachi today, massacred and kicked out the most influential group of Mohajirs, grabbed the prime real estate in the city, started treating remaining Mohajirs as second class citizens, and then told them "Hey, what's your problem... none of what we took belonged to you guys."

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wisdom

Apr 21, 2014 02:51am

@Pakistani: its not their fault, its your "five ethnicities" who created problem. your constitution clearly discriminate between them and your "five ethnicities". change constitution and the situation will change!!! remember, this problem started when Karachi was merged to Sindh & quota system was introduce by Bhutto. you can not add discrimination in your constitution, and expect harmony in society !!! second problem is that your textbooks teaches people to be one of "five ethnicities" , not Pakistani !!! this gives impression that other people are of second class citizen.

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abdulaziz

Apr 21, 2014 03:41am

@Pakistani:
Good point. But you must ask yourself the following question: do muslims assimilate themselves wherever they go? They never do. They have groups within themselves and each group thinks they are the best.

A sugar coated version of role of MQM in destroying a bustling beautiful city of Karachi.

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Nadeem Jamali

Apr 21, 2014 04:23am

@Awan: The only thing Mohajirs should have done was to fairly compete with Sindhis rather than start killing the most successful among them on the pretext of religion, kicking them out, and treating Sindh's cities like conquered territory. From all evidence, Hindu Sindhis have ended up being a lot more successful, and built a much better reputation for themselves, without persecuting anyone, than Mohajirs have been able to despite all their shenanigans.

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saleem

Apr 21, 2014 04:42am

pluralism, humanity and tolerance for other people (whether be religious, ethnic or otherwise) can bring harmony in the societies; the tensions are more due to lack of education, economic war, deprivation of rule of law, merit and rampant hypocrisy in the name of religion!

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Unity

Apr 21, 2014 05:33am

Sindhis and Urdu Speaking people are one great nation.

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M bashir

Apr 21, 2014 05:43am

@Vasif:
If your argument is to be believed, then what about Urdu speaking population in Punjab. By accepting your point of view, they should be calling themselves mohajir after 60 years of independence. I have lived in states for the past 10 years. Can you imagine me writing on my passport that I am a refugee ( mohajir). Words carry meaning and emotions , second generation Urdu speakers are not mohajirs. They can be mohajirs if their intention is to go back to India. Truth is bitter but it's truth.

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munawar

Apr 21, 2014 06:07am

NFP great as always, what a balanced analysis and correct contextual background. We are glad to have good man like you in the national media. Bravo...

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Salman from Canada

Apr 21, 2014 06:14am

Language and religion have always been divisive forces, Pakistan is not unique I guess. As long as we don't kill each other over these differences, it's fine.

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Ahmed

Apr 21, 2014 07:11am

How many police officer in Karachi are Mohajir? How many mohajirs work for PIA at Karachi Airport? , steel mills, air force, Navy, Army and other important corporations and institution? Mohajir were discriminated (exponencially) since Auyb Khan era, as auther pointed out. I have growen up in Karachi, only time I see any developement was done in Karachi, when Musharaf releasd fund to MQM and Mustufa Kamal made it heppen. This is the very reason why Musharaf is been sinlge out and has been victamized by rulling Punjabi's.

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Mohammad Syed Husain

Apr 21, 2014 07:37am

I never felt any different from others growing up in Lahore, Pakistan in the fifties. My father migrated from Hyderabad State in 1948 and settled in Lahore. I went to school there and in the heart of the Punjab, at Sargodha. I eventually ended up in the airline with no discrimination felt in the selection procedure and eventually ended a long career with the airline with the same feelings.I have been treated fairly well by Pakistan and its citizens of which I remain an overseas member.Most of my professional life was spent based in Karachi, and I felt the same there as in the rest of the country where I have also lived, Rawalpindi. We have to grow up as mature Pakistanis but what I read here is mostly divisive. What we all need for the country is more and more education to set our minds in motion of other aspects of life besides our migration from India.

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Singh Soorma

Apr 21, 2014 09:23am

Guys its all in the state of mind and how one accepts the fellow countryman from a different region of the country. The Hindus and Sikhs who crossed into India during 1947 division are very much a part of the main stream India and its society and are not referred to as "Refugees" or "Pakistanis", They are simply Indians. India had prime ministers who have been born in cities and villages which are now in Pakistan, we have Bollywood actors who have come from cities and villages which are now in Pakistan. If you guys cannot live and adjust with your fellow countrymen who gave up much more while uprooting themselves from their place of birth and made the journey to Pakistan, then I must say the idea of Pakistan has failed them! Jai Hind.

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Meesaq Husain Zaidi

Apr 21, 2014 10:02am

MQM was a product of frustration. Mohajirs were the founders of Pakistan. Ayub Khan's anti-Mohajir politics
added to their frustration. Quota system was the last straw on the camel's back.

Govt level conspiracies to bullshit MQM will de-stabalise Pakistan. Mohajirs will NEVER look back . Come what may.
MQM is now Muttahida Qaumi Movement and a national party. It is no more exclusively Mohajir (Urdu speaking) party. MQM is the only liberal, progressive and democratic party in this country.

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Muhammad

Apr 21, 2014 10:23am

@Pakistani:
First of all, this is true that muhajirs emerged from different parts of india however culturally they are not very different from each other (due to which they were able to group together). Over whelming majority of them have the same mother tongue (Urdu). Although they were from different states of India i.e. UP, Bihar, Cental Province, Hyderabad Deccan etc. but they are culturally only that much different from each other as a Punjabi from Lahore is different from a Punjabi of Jhelum or a Sindhi of Umerkot is different from Sindhi of Jacobabad. The only out liers within the mohajir community are the Memons and Gujarati muslims who immigrated from Gujarat and thus have different culture and language. As they have a homogeneous culture (excluding the gujaratis and memons) they are a distinct cultural entity just like sindhis, punjabis, pakhtuns etc. who have their own language, customs and traditions distinct from their fellow country men. Just like Sindhis, punjabis, baloch, serikis, pakhtus etc are distinct ethnic identities who are different from each other, Mohajirs are also a distinct identity and its better for others in the country to accept them that way instead of forcing them on expecting them to merge with others and give up their identity just because they are not locals.

Another major reason which connects them is that they share common issues (and that's the reason why even many memons and gujaratis also come under the mohajir umbrella)

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Muhammad

Apr 21, 2014 10:35am

@Punjabi Mohajir:
The reason why punjabi mohajirs assimilated with their punjabi counter parts was because they shared the same culture and language. In fact the punjabis of pakistan and punjabi muslim immigrants from india were the same people with same castes thus there was no question of merging and assimilating with each other.

While the immigrants in sindh are not sindhis. Their language, culture etc . is completely distinct from the sindhis who call these immigrants "Panahgirs" and don't consider them as a part of sindh (long before MQM even existed). MQM is no saint but mohajirs had genuine issues, quota system introduced in 70 directly hit the mohajirs the most. Mohajirs always supported national level parties like old muslim league and JI but when all the communities of pakistan were being supported by various parties who talked about their respective community rights, Mohajirs had no option to form their own party to protect their rights. Mohajirs had to suffer in 1971 in East Pakistan and had to pay a price for supporting pakistan. Many were brutally killed by Mukti Bahini and still thousands languish in bangaldeshi camps (its an irony tht we can have 3 million afghans who have played havoc with our society but can take a few lac biharis in bangladeshi camps who supported pakistan against all odds just because they are not local son of the soil).

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 10:36am

Nadeem Piracha glosses over the place where Muhajirs felt themselves a separate community. It was not Bhutto, but Ayub Khan who did this. His son's violent means in suppressing in the 1964 elections where people in Karachi would not vote for Ayub Khan started off the siege mentality. His threat to drive Muhajirs into the sea worsened relations. Bhutto merely reinforced it. And after Benazir Muhajirs in growing numbers began migrating anywhere not for money like Punjabis but for a home. All that is missed.

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 10:41am

@BRR:
Urdu was made the national language by a son of the soil Mohd Ali Jinnah and not by Muhajirs.

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 10:52am

@Awan:
You are quite correct. Even the Muhajirs of Karachi do not speak the same language. Many speak Memoni, Gujrati, Kutchi and some speak other south Indian languages. Even the Urdu has differences where the eastern UP Urdu is very different from the Western and Central UP Urdu. But a sense of being commonly harassed and uniformly discriminated against has led to them coming under the muhajir banner.

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Muhammad

Apr 21, 2014 10:52am

@Jalbani Baloch:
First of all, over whelming majority of immigrants that went to punjab were punjabis from east punjab and thus had no issues in assimilation. U cannot compare punjab immigrants with the non punjabi immigrants who got settled in Sindh. Sindhis and urdu speakers are two distinct communities with each having their own culture. and there is written rule which requires the immigrants to adopt the host culture. Even the sndhis consider the urdu speakers as distinct and call them PANAHGIRS. And this is a term they have used since pakistan was created long before MQM came into being. MQM is a horrible party but the grievances of urdu speakers are genuine like the quota system which restricts urdu speakers from getting many govt jobs. It has been over 60 years but not a single Cheif Minister of sindh was a mohajir. Would the sindhis ever accept an urdu speaking CM? PPP says tht it is a national level party then why she doesn't appoint a Mohajir as a CM of the province for once? Rich feudal lords in sindh are not taxed even a rupee while ppl in urban areas have to bear the brunt of taxes. Feudals are the ones who have destroyed the life of an average sindhi but no one says anything to them but leave no stone unturned in blaming mohajirs from sindh's problem . And if u talk about cultural assimilation then why don't the sindhis leave their language and adopt urdu? after all Urdu is the natonal language but would a sindhi do that? obviously not and it would be wrong to even ask someone to give up his/her culture and language. Without a doubt Mohajirs should live in peace with others and stop thinking KHI as their own pvt personal property but even others should reciprocate. Sindhis shud stop demanding the mohajirs to give up their identity and accept the fact tht sindh is a bilingual entity

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 10:54am

@Sayyar Khan:
Its a darn sight better than losing half the country thanks to sons of the soil

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 11:00am

@Malveros:
Starting with the Zia government and going through all governments since then, the head offices of many banks and institutions have been shifted away from Karachi so that revenue paid by the provinces could be accounted for at sources in those provinces. The result? Nothing. The provinces do not pay taxes. The provinces, aside from Sindh, steal electricity and gas and anything else they can get their hands on. That is why they are facing so many problems with electricity. If the muhajir paid taxes the same way the provinces do, the government of Pakistan would collapse tomorrow.

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 11:08am

@Ali S:
When I asked my late father why they had not settled in Punjab and had gone all the way to Karachi, he said that the trains from Delhi and eastwards were routed not to stop in Punjab from sometime after partition. So his family could not get off at Lahore, despite the trains having been attacked on the way and had to come all the way to Karachi instead. At that time Karachi was not a financial hub or anything else. It was just another port the British had built. It was known for its good weather and people would come here for rest. Quaid e Azam had declared it the capital so people were coming this way but stopping along the way was not an option given to them.

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Bkt

Apr 21, 2014 11:16am

@multani:
You are welcome to come and visit. There is a long visa process but people do come, Multan is full of extremist religious groups (sort of like Sikhs) so you may have to be careful, but Muslims are generally very big hearted and welcoming

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Mn

Apr 21, 2014 11:45am

Great article by Mr. Paracha as always.
Sindhi Urdu bhai bhai. Long live Sindh!

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Fahad Hafeez

Apr 21, 2014 12:51pm

@Jalbani Baloch:
Sorry dude , we try to learn sindhi since class 1 till 10 , but the syllabus created by the sindh text book board is so bad that we are unable to learn anything but " Hio bholro aye " ,

For all those that are speaking about the Punjabi Muhajirs that are fully integrated into the Punjab are forgetting that the people that came to the punjab provience came from the Indian Punjab mostly and already has the same language and culture so they had to change nothing.

While for the people comming to karachi were mostly wealthy business men and educated class who were able to afford the ticket via plane or sea , when ariving here they wanted to help their country in every way they managed the influx of others coming in the city from india and managed all the key positions at that time and hepled Karachi to improve its infrastructure , they never learned the local language as they didnt neded it to do business or anything , also the language was not that easy either and has its own scripture and phonetics.

What is bad is that Punjab has punjabi speakers as well as seraiki speakers , but sindh is not so much accommodating to the urdu speaking sindhi .

Also these people didn't tried to mix into other cultures as they had their own and they came to their own country as they had fought for it in India( rather than to seek refuge to some other country like the afghans now) and had their own language Urdu as the National language , why would any one learn any other language then the national language ? .

Its amazing how here all other Pakistanis are trying to make us integrate into other cultures like if we dont own this country , dude get a life the movement started from the muslims in the area that are now in India or Bangladesh , still out ethnicities claim the thrown of independence. who had to just sit and watch the show while the muslims from India has to migrate and suffer the most.

I just hope the attitude of all the non-mahajirs can change and accept the Urdu speaking Sindhis as son of the soil. as our recent generation is all born and bread in Pakistan only.

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Fahad Hafeez

Apr 21, 2014 02:10pm

@Sh:
Dude we didnt came to take refuge we came into a our own land that we got independence from the britsih and India , so when you think that you are the sole owner of this land then you are wrong the Indian Muslims that strugled for the independence of this land are as much owner of this land as any other person living pre partition times. so since we didnt came into someone else's land we came in our own land thus we live our own way ! Thank you.

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Fahad Hafeez

Apr 21, 2014 02:22pm

@Sayyar Khan:
Bro go and check history you will see how karachi was prior to the urdu speaking people comming here. do an unbiased analysis !

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Fahad Hafeez

Apr 21, 2014 02:25pm

@imran ali:
100% Spot On ,. Love you bro !

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Ali S

Apr 21, 2014 02:54pm

@Salman from Canada:

That's actually surprisingly true. You're from Canada, right? I lived in Canada for nearly six years. I don't know about Hindu Punjabis, but the Sikh Punjabis and Pakistani Punjabis in Canada - both the older generations and especially the younger ones - get along extremely well with each other regardless of where they're from, and Pakistani Punjabis prefer to hang out with them rather than Urdu speakers (not my assumption - a conservative, religious-minded Punjabi friend of mine whose family is from Gujranwala told me that). Just drive over to Brampton or Mississauga and you'll know what I mean.

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Ali S

Apr 21, 2014 03:00pm

@Bkt:

I don't know about the train routes during partition, but I do know for a fact that Karachi was a major sea port of British India circa 1940s - and the only one in what is today Pakistan. Read a history book instead of relying on your relatives' word of mouth.

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Madhav

Apr 21, 2014 03:25pm

@Nasir:
Maybe Pakistan should have one binding language like India has. Check this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LanguagesofIndia
I see this lacking in Pakistan and maybe that should help you out. Guess what ?? Lot of South Indians like me don't much accept Hindi and there always is a North - South divide and the famous discrimination of the North-East Indians.
We found our own ways in the existing Democratic setup. I hope you too would find one.

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Madhav

Apr 21, 2014 03:29pm

@Pakistani:
The reason is that Urdu is the official language of Indian Muslims despite the fact that they still speak local languages - even more to say that they speak better local language than Urdu. But, Urdu was which that had binded Muslims of India - despite many Hindus like me who can speak Urdu.
I have couple of Muslim friends who speak fluent Telugu than Urdu.
Integration of Indian Muslims as Pakistanis - that would take some time. It depends on how quickly the "Original" Pakistanis accepted the "New" Pakistanis who were forced to move out of India.

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Awan

Apr 21, 2014 04:04pm

@Fahad Hafeez: I suspect most people of Sindh have no idea about Punjab. For your information Punjab had migrants not only from Punjab but from UP and other regions as well. Most of them integrated. It was not all about Punjabi speakers as you stated.

Language is an Important tool to Interact with everybody and with the language you learn local culture and afterwards you dont feel alienated at all.

Also you stated that why would any one learn any other language then the national language ? .

Do you know this same mentality was the reason that Bangladesh got separated from Pakistan. Kindly keep in mind that Pakistan dont have one National Language but infact Regional languages are National Languages too.

Also you stressed the need for a Separate Muhajir identity that is Obscure and Illogical term for me. Many people reach the Shores of America and call themselves American in less than 10 years but they have a Difficulty to do the same while living in Pakistan for all of their life?

Moreover in your comment you stated that Pakistanis are stressing like that while calling yourself as Muhajir only???. I can sense the Smugness and condescending tone in your comment? Pakistanis are different than you.???

Do you know every language in Pakistan have more authors than Urdu language but still their literature got rejected with the creation of Pakistan but this does not allow anybody to disrespect or use disrespectful tone against anybody.

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Zafar Iqbal

Apr 21, 2014 04:25pm

@Ahmad:
you have forgot to mention most tragic and painful discrimination that Urdu speaking community fought and sacrificed their lives to safeguard East Pakistan in 1971 but after fall of East Pakistan , these community has been left on the mercy of Bangali Mukti Bahini , and now these Urdu community has been passing a sub human life in 66 camps of Bangladesh in the hope of repatriation to Pakistan since 1972 ,but no successive govt.of Pakistan repatriated them.What a shame to Islami Republic of Pakistan .

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bkt

Apr 21, 2014 04:55pm

@Ali S:
Karachi was used as a routing stop for World War 2 war supplies due to its big airport. It could not be a major port because its capacity as a port was not anywhere near to the major ports of India especially Bombay and Madras (Chennai). Famous journalist, John Gunther, in his book "Inside Asia"published in 1939 calls it India's chief airport in Sindh. There is no mention of its ability as a seaport, especially a major seaport. If Karachi was so important, the Congress would not have given up on it without a fight. They were happy to consider it irrelevant,

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gul bali

Apr 21, 2014 05:15pm

a shallow article

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A.H.Hashmi

Apr 21, 2014 07:18pm

It is not that simple , unrest starts when govt.of the time starts discriminating .It is a matter of feeling ownership in the governing of a nation that can satisfy any community . We can take the example of East Pakistan in this context .

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Salman from Canada

Apr 21, 2014 07:32pm

@GKBaloch:
a) The Sindhi language is understood by what ( ? ) 20 to 30 million people; Urdu is understood by well over a billion people ( close to one-seventh of humanity ) in India and Pakistan.
b) Despite the anti-Urdu feelings, it serves as a link language between Pakistan's different ethnic groups; otherwise they would have to communicate with sign language; how else would a Pathan converse with a Sindhi?
c) Urdu became the national language of Pakistan; the Indian poet Muhammad Iqbal ( I say Indian, because when he died in 1938, there was no Pakistan ) and all the other literary figures of Punjab chose Urdu as their language
d) Urdu is and was seen as the language of the Muslims of pre-partition India
e) Urdu and Punjabi are fairly similar and easy to comprehend by either group.

If I have to learn another language here in Canada, I'd probably learn French or Spanish, which have a universal dimension. Why on earth would anyone want to learn Sindhi, a language of a tiny minority; with no advantage at all.
Even the native Indians of North America have accepted and speak English now.

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Naren

Apr 21, 2014 09:10pm

@Raj, they are called Reverse Mohajirs!!!!

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Rex Minor

Apr 21, 2014 09:10pm

The author narrative in stitches is no longer the truth of reasoning but the truth of facts which is contingent and the opposite is possible(Gottfried Leibniz) and therefore cannot be the total truth. Let me try to fill in the gaps in his story about the urdu speaking Muhajirs.The large number of them opted for the largest city of Pakistan because it happened also to be the sea port and the capital of Pakistan. They not only speek urdu language and crave for education but have a completely different culture and find it hard to integrate into existing communities. They very soon overcrowded the city and were allocated the city footpaths to sleept night..
This led very quickly to riots in the city and the President called the Army to maintain law and order.
This brought army on the strrets of karachi and compelled General Ayub to introduse marshal law in the country and send the President to safety in London Town. In other words it was the urdu speaking muhajirs who became the cause of the military rule and the transfer of Pakistan capital nearer to the GHQ in Rawalpindi. It is a surprise that this part of history is left out by the author.

Rex Minor

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Fareed (USA)

Apr 21, 2014 09:58pm

NFP - It has been close to 67 years since "mohajirs' came over. Third or 4th generation has grown up in Pakistan. Is n't about time we quit referring them as 'mohajirs ? Call them Urdu speaking, linguistic group, the group though lives in Sindh but wants to maintain a separate identity.

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Gul Hassan

Apr 21, 2014 10:50pm

The writer must also say about the craetion of One Unit in 1955 which was a set up to destroy Pakistan from within. Creation of one unit also created a Punjabi bureacracy in Lahore ( capital of then West Pakistan) and Islamabad and ever since the militant wing of Punjabi bureacracy IB is solely responsible for the mess we see these days.

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Gul

Apr 21, 2014 11:01pm

@Zafar Iqbal:
What a shame these people demand "REPATRIATION" to a country which they have never been in the first instance.

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Masood

Apr 22, 2014 01:30am

Mohajirs are still being killed , totured and put a side ...The history of native people so called them selves PAkistani and who dont have a single credit of making Pakistaaani always make their decisions based on ethnicity not on equality...so Moahjirs have to face the repurcussions due to this un equality

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SOFTWARE EINGINEER

Apr 22, 2014 02:42am

@H.A:

That was throughly illogical comment, have you EVER checked the merit list of CSS RESULTS without quota . Even without quota there are hardly 2-3 from Urban Sindh that includes Sukkar and Hyderabad into TOP 200. Nobody is stopping you from becoming toppers. Even in my Class of BBA in Bahria Uni, We were 3 Sindhis who always ranked top 3 throughout 8 semesters. And the kind of mentality prevails in you is you people feel super fit without contest. GO TO FPSC WEBSITE AND SEE MERIT LIST OF CSS TOPPERS. You only get what you deserve. If there had been NO QUOTA you would have NO presence in CSS caders. On the basis of quota your people get the place even being on 200th 350th position to fill the stomach of quota. Walk up, this quota is hurting Punjabis and Rural Sindhis more. BY THE WAY Karachi is integral part of SINDH.
Only mohajirs don't live in Karachi.

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Afzal KN

Apr 22, 2014 05:44am

Lot of Punjabi kids are speaking Urdu as first language, so how does Urdu speaking community of "mohajir" justify its separate identity ?

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Omar

Apr 22, 2014 09:11am

@Afzal KN:
Actually most of our best poets and writers in across all genres have come from Punjab.

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Yousuf

Apr 22, 2014 10:45am

Only two countris are known to be created in the name of religions. Pakistan and Isreal. While Pakistan is no more willing to welcome anymore people in the name of Islam, and those who migraetd to to Pakistan and fought in the name of Pakistan are countiuously sidelined and sometimes even deprived of their basic rights. Israel is welcoming jews from all corners of the world to make it their home.
Rightly mentioned by someone that Pakistan happily accepts millions of Afgans (Afgansitan never been a good neighbour and accepted Pakistan) but refused to bring Pakistanies who fought in its name in 1971.

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Gul

Apr 22, 2014 12:28pm

@SOFTWARE EINGINEER:
In fact Urban Rural quota was placed on the demand of Mohajirs at the cost of Sindhis.

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Gul

Apr 22, 2014 12:36pm

@Salman from Canada:
Urdu is just another name of Hindi with a different script. Hindi alias Urdu has been the so called national language of Pakistan.

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haris

Apr 22, 2014 02:30pm

"When a Sindhi, Z.A. Bhutto, became the country

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Fareed

Apr 22, 2014 07:51pm

NFP - The truth is, by keeping Urdu speaking population of Sindh as a separate entity, MQM & its honchos have complete control over the vast urban Urdu speaking class. If MQM is such a democratic party, why any dissent is not tolerated? The case in point is ex Karachi mayor, Kamal who recently resigned from the senate.

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Arsalan

Apr 24, 2014 02:45am

I seriously fail to understand that even after 67 plus years these migrants who migrated from India to Pakistan still call themselves Muhajirs. even though there 4th or 5th generations have born in Pakistan! whether these people are Still inferiority complexed or there motive is secretly dangerous to dismantle unity among masses. My own grand fathers came from india but v have never claimed ourselves as Muhajirs. The most ironic part is that this disease of identifying one self as a migrant is only in parts of Sindh, the rest of the country is normally just Pakistani. Am sure this act of identification is only to exploit one self on others. its like taking control of the house n undermining the real inhabitants. am not saying that giving room to migrants was a mistake, no never. As a Muslim it is obligatory to help n give place to another distress Muslim, but in return if the distress tries to exploit his existence even after 67 years is Insane. thanks to this sick ideology of identifying oneself as muhajir, the whole country was and is being further divided on basis of places, language n looks etc. i dont c any country in this world who living in one country breaks themselves into small ethnic groups and reduces thr Synergy. have v forgotten the famous saying "Unity is strength". Muhajirs and other so called ethnic minority groups Wake up n think and act like a Pakistani coz United v stand, divided v fall! Period!!

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Arsalan

Apr 24, 2014 02:51am

@Tehmina Hilaly :
I agree wid u, my grand father also came from india but seriously i neither my parents ever claimed to b Muhajirs. i take this as a disease and inferiority complexion of those who still think tht they r migrants even though thr 4 or 5 generations have born in Pakistan. but still thr elders teach n implant them wid the same rotten story of migration. Enough is enough. Grow up Muhajirs n accept urself as Pakistanis too. for how long u vl try to identify urself as refugees or the forsakens??

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Ali

Mar 18, 2017 04:55pm

Systemic disenfranchisement is often hard to see, especially for those who are "privileged" sons of the soil. While the MQM is hardly a poster child for political movements and has become more and more embarrassing as the years progress. This does not mean there isn't a genuine cause behind their success at the polls.
The election of populists like Donald Trump is proof that if the wrong people say the right things, people will vote for them. The MQM's cry of disenfranchisement holds true because Muhajir's are disenfranchised. There is insecurity because, as most of the comments below prove, our attempts at an independent identity are either held against us as "Un-Pakistani" or met with derision as an "Inferiority Complex". You can hardly tell a pathan to "Go back to Afghanistan", however it is shameful how often we are told to "go back to India". There is a real problem, and denying it makes one complicit with its worst excesses.

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Muhammad

Mar 18, 2017 05:32pm

@Pakistani, first of all thes emohajir community itself is not as distinct from eachother as u have pointed out. Be it Upites, Biharis, Hyderabadis, Bhopalis, Delhi walas, they all speak the same language Urdu (though with different dialects) and have cultural simialrites when it comes to food, attiare etc. just like potoharis, jhangvis, lahoris etc all speak punjabi (though different dialects) and have culutural simlarities thus comming under one umbrella. Plus it was not possible for them to assimilate as they have always remained a distinct comunity even in india where they were a minority, they r a minority now too in pak only the majority community changed. 3rd, language is the thing which keeps a community's culture alive and urdu being the national lang assures that their ethinicity remains alive finally the pakistnai culture is actually derived from the mohajir culture (urdu, sherwani, cuisines like biryani qorma) hence technically they are following the pakistani culture.

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MSR

Mar 18, 2017 05:37pm

@Ejas & Punjabi Mohajir. Punjabi mohajirs assimilated because they were punjabis just like their hosts in west punjab, speaking the same language, having the same cultural norms and tribes and castes as the ppl of west punjab hence there was no question of assimilation. Many even had relatives in west punjab prior to parition and thus this land was not alien for them. So they were never a separate ethnicity. Had Hyderabad or bhopal state became a part of pakistan or parts of UP became a part of pakistan then the urdu speakers wouldnt have called themselves mohajirs as they would have gotten assimilated in those areas because they shared the same culture as those ppl.

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MUHAMMAD

Mar 18, 2017 06:04pm

Many ppl here think that Mohajirs dont consider themselves as pakistanis. That is not true, we have always considered oursleves as paksitnais and it was only in 80s that we went for ethnic based politics after regionalism had spread completely in the country. Urdu speaker can be a word which can be used in lieu of this and is gaining popularity too. Urdu speakers are the 5th largest community of the country (more then balochis, hindkos, kashmiris, etc) then how can one expect them to just vanish in thin air? For sure Altaf is horrible & we urdu speakers need someone who can really eliminate our issues but that cant happen till the mainsteam political parties try to understand us rather then making demands of so called cultural asimilation by giving up our culture. Just because punjab sindh KPK and Balochistan are in paksitan does not mean that the ppl of these regions have more or special previlidges ot keep their culture while others dont.

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MUHAMMAD

Mar 18, 2017 06:11pm

@SOFTWARE EINGINEER, I dont know which merit list u are talking about Just go and check the ppl working in white collar positions in karachi and majority of them are urdu speakers. In my office of around 100 or so ppl atleast 70 were urdu speakers, in my own university (IBA) majority of the students were urdu speakers (and IBA takes ppl on merit) had there been a quota system there , urdu speakers would have been very few. Of the top three positions in my class, 2 were held by mohajirs. And as for sindh, only sindhis dont live here we are here too but still a CM is always a sindhi and never a urdu spkear or a memon or gujarati for that matter. And if q

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MUHAMMAD

Mar 18, 2017 06:14pm

@SOFTWARE EINGINEER, if the quota system is hurting sindhis and punjabis more then why doesnt PPP remove it?! after all it was implemented by them to safeguard the sindhis and if its not working that way then they can easily remove it as they have a majority. The reason they dont remove is that its not true, the quota system only hurts the urdu speakers, memon gujaratis etc as they have a much higher literacy rate then others . If they remove quota and bring in merit then proportion of mohajirs will grow singificantly in govt jobs which rightnow is very low

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asad

Mar 18, 2017 06:59pm

Altaf hussain will continue to get mohajir support because establishment failed to deliver following things: 1. Urdu speaking representation as per their population in LEA's 2. Continuation of Quota System in Sindh. 3. Powers in sindh rest in hand with feudal. 4. Perpetrator of Qasba Ali Garh, Hyderabad riots, Katti pahari never been brought to book. 5. Continuation of failed policy by creating artifical factions like Haqiqi and PSP. 6. Not giving urban sindh their proportionate return to them as per contribution in national exchequer. 7. Custodial deaths on the basis of race. 8. Encroachment of land of Karachi.

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Rashid

Mar 18, 2017 08:41pm

NFP only you can write something so clear and objective about the history of mohajirs. Kudos to you

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shabeena islam

Mar 18, 2017 09:57pm

a very good article indeed

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hnmirza

Mar 19, 2017 03:02am

@Awan
Good comment sir.
I am still surprised at people who wonder why migrants from " East" Punjab had no problems assimilating with " West" Punjab. Would one have problems assimilating if one moved from Sialkot to Lahore ? Or from Mardan to Peshawar? But there is that issue when one moves from Peshawar to Karachi for instance - you still see pockets of Pukhtoon speaking areas in Karachi that have not assimilated.
Education and equal opportunity by law are the greatest of equalizers while violation of rights( whomsoever may be the culprit) lead to social polarization.

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Kashif

Mar 19, 2017 08:11am

@Pakistani First create a Pakistani identity. Mohajir identity is not fiction, this is basically the issue that other ethnicities do not consider them their part. All the difference is due to the language.